I write this on New Year’s Eve, as I try to discover a silver lining to 2014’s darkest clouds. In Staten Island, Ferguson and Cleveland, men and boys were killed by those obligated, first and foremost, to protect and serve. In Brooklyn, police officers were assassinated for doing their jobs. There is nothing new to violence by and against the police. But there is something comparatively new to our candid, public conversation about these events. This dialogue may lead Americans to cultivate empathy and understanding; we may come to see an old thing in a new way.

Citation
Josh Bowers, The Case for Compassionate Policing, University of Virginia Magazine 49 (February, 2015).